Chapter 40 - Simple Stuff

It had taken Max a lot of convincing during the night to let him sleep in his hammock in the great oak-like tree. A lot of the people had insisted he gets his own room from one of the ten houses for the first night. Max had shot that ridiculous idea down. He was perfectly happy sleeping in his hammock, although after the soft beds of Durum it did take a bit getting used to.

Regardless, Max woke well rested. He noticed they had gained a level in Cultivation, bringing them up to level 9. Max had told Maverick he didn’t expect him to work with a cycling technique this night, since he had been lazing off. Maverick protested that he would get way too bored during the night if he didn’t do something and that he needed to show Max what hard work meant. They idly argued as Max washed in the river nearby.

Today would be a big day. While yesterday’s little revelations was definitely something Max had enjoyed, and admittedly needed. It was good to be back on track. Despite all the fine things Max had brought, people were still scared and wounded and Max would need to deal with it.

Fortunately he still had all sorts of things to help the camp with. He had 1 C-grade equipment box and 10 D-grade ones. Max was very curious to see what kind of equipment the C-grade box contained. If it wouldn’t have an item Max could use, he would probably cry just a little bit.

He also had two [E-grade material boxes] to give to Joshua after receiving the appropriate quest and quite a few free attribute points to distribute. He was sitting on them, as he wasn’t sure what would be the best build for him. Maverick had told him that the only option was to dump everything into Intelligence, because that would make him more powerful. Max had decided to not ask advice after that.

There was one thing bothering Max though. He had gotten a notification that the patrons had wanted to contact him when he had leveled up to 15. Max assumed that was because they wanted to instruct him with Cultivation, but due to some rule they hadn’t contacted him within the Dreadlands, in which Durum’s kingdom was.

But now that Max had come back, the Zoos-collective had made no attempt at contact. Max had even double checked the notification to see if he could prompt the plastic jellyfish to appear somehow, but to no avail.

That was inconvenient, because Max had questions, and worrisome, because after having asked about it yesternight at the campfire, Max was told that other people were being contacted by the Zoos normally. For now Max could only wait.

“Morning Elena,” Max called as she approached the short girl working on something with hunched shoulders working on a makeshift table made from a stone slab on the ground. “What are you doing?”

“Paste,” she said distractedly before she turned. “Oh, good morning Max. I’m totally not used to you being around.”

“I hope you’ll make some progress with that,” Max said and squatted down next to Elena. “I plan to stay for at least some days.”

“I’ll believe it when I see it,” Elena said and nudged him. “Joshua says you’re the impatient type.”

Max let out a chuckle. “I suppose I am. What kind of paste are you working on? Smells fresh.”

“It’s a healing paste for the wounds,” Elena said. “I found this plant that’s like aloe vera. I’m using it as a base and trying out other herbs and berry juice and stuff like that to see what works best. I’m done testing this one and I know it works pretty well.”

“How do you test this?”

“On myself, of course,” Elena said as if it was obvious and peeled up her sleeve. She had thin little cuts that were scabbing at various rates. The higher cuts were clearly healing more cleanly. “That third concoction I tried was really bad. See, it's still irritated. Not doing that one again…”

Max had to just nod and appreciate the commitment. Maybe his first impression of Elena had been wrong. Or maybe she’d just been shocked and useless like most any person would be in the situation Max had found her. Now she was all-in helping in her own way. That was all Max was about, so he couldn’t help but to appreciate Elena’s efforts.

“That is really cool, Elena! I’m really impressed.”

She blushed and averted her eyes.”Oh stop it. It’s just a little healing salve.”

“And who knows what it will be in a week from now on,” Max said and rose up.

“Maximillian, is this what you humans call ‘flirting’?” Maverick asked.

“No. What’s wrong with you?” Max snapped at him. Elena giggled. “This is called having a normal conversation. Please take notes, so we might have one someday. Please.”

Max and Elena exchanged a few more words before Max went off. Max wanted to find Joshua. The camp had grown large enough that you couldn’t immediately tell who’s who anymore. But Joshua was still wearing his signature brown cowboy hat, so Max found him easily enough.

“Morning,” Max called as he approached Joshua who was standing with Martin next to one of the black stout houses. They both turned and smiled. Joshua brightly and invitingly, and Martin shyly.

“Max! Good morning. Come join us, we’re tossing out ideas.”

Max went up to them and looked at the space between two of the bunker houses where the other two men were staring.

“You guys are figuring out how to use that space?”

“You catch up quickly as always,” Joshua said.

“The question is not how we should use it,” Martin said. “We should build a back wall and a roof in the space between the walls of the buildings, but the question is the limited availability of materials.”

“I do have a material box, just so you guys are aware,” Max said.

“We’ll get to that,” Joshua promised. “But one box probably won’t be enough to give us enough of anything to make use of all the spaces.”

“How about the idea with the clay bricks?” Max asked.

“Lily found clay, but the deposit is unfortunately quite far away,” Joshua said.

“And her attempts so far at creating adequate enough bricks have not been successful,” Martin said.

“Give her time,” Joshua said.

“Yeah, Martin,” Max said. “Think how hard this new reality is on us. Then imagine you were experiencing it as a kid.”

“I know, I know…” Martin said and sighed. “It is hard. That is why I have a ‘stick up my ass’ like Bill likes to say. I don’t deal well with stress. I’m a mess.”

“You’re our mess, though,” Max said. Martin gave him a tired smile.

“Maximillian,” Maverick chimed up. “Is this what you humans call flir—”

“JUST WHY!? Why do I have to deal with this?”

                                                                *

Max hadn’t been much use in the conversation about architectural choices. He had mostly been nudging Martin in this direction and that with ideas. Eventually he felt he had exhausted his usefulness and went on his way, telling Joshua to look him up when he had the time.

Max was burning to open up the boxes and see what was inside. Maverick had fallen quiet. It, or rather he did that from time to time. He claimed he didn’t need to sleep, but even when Max had called him, he hadn’t answered. For a revolver needing attention more than gun oil, that was strange. Max would ask about it, when the gun decided it was time for him to say the next clever thing.

Max wandered around and exchanged greetings and a few words with people he didn’t know. They thanked him and told him if he ever needed anything, he’d just need to ask. All the usual. Max’s heart swelled with pride and his smiles with them were genuine.

He was still a little uncomfortable with the attention, but he sure could appreciate them. These were the people who gave him purpose. The normal people who just needed a roof over their heads, food in their bellies and each other.

Max would do his best to provide that for them, so that they could flourish and build. That was something Max couldn’t do. But he could fight, he could protect, and he could bring them what they needed. And he had. Success tasted good.

Eventually he ran into Marie, who was inspecting a rack made of sturdy sticks that had a hide tanning. She softly ran a finger through the leather and stood there contemplating. Then she did the same for the other racks in the same row.

“How’s it going?” Max asked and approached with a smile.

“Oh, hello Max,” Marie said. “Very good. These leathers seem to be my best work so far.”

“So you’ve taken up working with leather?”

“Oh yes, I think it's very interesting. But I do wish we had the internet or even manuals to do this.”

“Yeah, it's rough starting completely over,” Max said as he came to stand next to Marie and look at the leathers. “But these look good.”

“Yes,” Marie said. “I tried a few times, but the leather never worked out. “Then this one guy, Richard, was his name I think. Anyway, he told me I need to soak the leather in boiled bark. There’s tannins or something in them that does something to the leather.”

“I guess that's where the word ‘tanning’ comes from,” Max mused. “So now it works?”

“Yes, I know they succeeded, because they gave me a prompt and experience. These two pieces here are true [F-grade cured hides] and these four here? [F-grade cured leather].

“Very good!” Max said. “There are so many useful applications for leather. We still used leather items on earth.”

“Yes, this is what excites me,” Marie said in her gentle voice and smiled at the leather pieces as he swiped a finger at a hide affectionately. “I can make many things and be useful like you.”

Max turned to smile at her, but she actually averted his eyes.

“I meant,” Marie said. “What you do is amazing. I can’t do the same things. But I want to make beautiful things that will help people.”

“I think you’re on the right path,” Max said, ignoring Marie’s awkwardness. “What level are you?”

“I’m level 9. I think it’s on the higher end for [Artisans] in the camp. Only Elena and Joshua are over 10. And Mike too, I think. But he is injured.”

“I saw him yesterday,” Max said. “He looked very tired.”

“He got an infection from one of the wounds,” Marie said. “But Elena’s salves saved his life.”

“I didn’t know Elena had been growing so fast,” Max said. “Is she trying to obtain some sort of a doctor class?”

“It would be amazing if she did,” Marie said. “But to me it feels like she is more of an apothecary. I was going to say pharmacist, but I’m not sure that’s accurate on this planet.”

Max grinned. “Who knows. Few more levels, and she will have a laboratory fully running.”

“Next thing we know, you’ll bring us a sack full of beakers,” Marie said and joined Max’s grin.

“Not the first thing on my list,” Max said. “I saw Elena cobbled up a pestle and mortar.”

“She was absolutely gushing about it this morning,” Marie said, smiling fondly. “You sleep late by the way.”

“I do,” Max said and rubbed at the back of his head. “But I have other good qualities to make up for it.”

“You sure do,” Marie said. “Now shoo, I need to get these leathers down and start working on them. Lily made me a stack of bone needles, and Sid is getting good at keeping the sinew intact for me.”